You can use FindIt@Bham, the University of Birmingham library catalogue to find books and journals, including items in the Research Reserve and Cadbury Research Library. This is freely available, but only members of the University will be able to log in to the full content of online journals, databases and ebooks.
We recommend that you use FindIt@Bham to find a specific book or to find out which books we have on a topic, before looking on the shelves.
- Books in the reading room have the location Barber Fine Art Library Collection
- Books in the Research Reserve will have the location Research Reserve [RRART]. You can request these via FindIt@Bham
- Rare books will have the location Cadbury Research Library Art Collection. You must make an appointment to consult these in the Cadbury Research Library.
- Sales (auction catalogues) are not listed on FindIt@Bham except for a small number of catalogues from the eighteenth century. Please see Auction and sales catalogues for information on how to find what you are looking for.
Please note that all books belonging to the Barber Fine Art Library are for library use only.
How the books are classified and arranged
The library uses the Library of Congress classification system. The basic categories are:
- N: Visual arts
- NA: Architecture
- NB: Sculpture
- NC: Drawing, design and illustration
- ND: Painting
- NE: Print media
- NK: Decorative arts
- NX: Arts in general
There are three sequences of books by size. Please ask library staff to help if you are usnsure where to look.
- octavo standard size
- quarto larger that octavo (prefixed q)
- folio largest (prefixed f or ff)
The following multivolume sets are kept on the top row:
- Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker
- Oil paintings in public ownership
- The Grove dictionary of art
- The new Hollstein Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts : 1450-1700
- The new Hollstein German engravings, etchings and woodcuts, 1400-1700
There are card catalogue drawers in the Main Reading Room. You do not need to use them because all our books are listed in FindIt@Bham but library staff use them for stock checking.